Europe, Not Congress, Will Rein in Big Tech

Helen Dixon, data protection commissioner for Ireland, is set to become the top cop for U.S. tech giants. (Sean and Yvette for the Washington Post)

By Michael Birnbaum and Tony Romm from The Washington Post

U.S. lawmakers demonstrated an increased appetite for regulating technology giants when they grilled Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg about privacy last week. But the future of Facebook’s relationship with its 2 billion users is less likely to be determined from the halls of Congress than it is from an un­assuming 18th-century townhouse in Ireland’s capital packed with lawyers, technology experts and gumshoe investigators.

Europe has been moving aggressively to impose order on the tech space. Already, it has inflicted painful penalties on Apple and Google for their business practices.